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TechnographColumn: No alcohol, no problem in Minneapolis cabs: Fairly applying judgments on religion in the private sector
By Lally Gartel
Posted: 10/26/06 Section: Opinions
I was browsing through the News-Gazette Online Web log section last night when I saw that Rhonda Robinson, a regular News-Gazette blogger mentioned a story about Muslim taxi drivers in Minneapolis. It seems that a growing number of drivers, starting with just one a few years ago, but now quite a few, refuse to take passengers who are carrying alcohol in their bags or on their person.
According to the US News and World Report's interview with the Minneapolis airport's director, this amounts to approximately three fare refusals a day. Additionally, the taxi drivers have been lobbying against the resulting practice of making them go to the back of taxi line after a fare refusal, a line that becomes very long during rush hours and numerous flight arrivals.
The airport proposed in September that taxi drivers who don't accept passengers with alcohol for religious reasons have a special colored light on the top of their vehicles to signal to passengers that they will not be driven if they are carrying alcohol. On Oct. 10, the airport officials reversed this decision, citing in a press release that "other options will be considered." Some conservative commentators, like Daniel Pipes of the New York Sun, were very strong opponents of allowing taxi drivers to turn passengers away. As of today, no new rules have been instituted; if the drivers turn people away, they must return to the back of taxi line.
It is unclear what tenet of Islamic law prohibits these drivers from taking passengers with alcohol; there are passages against consuming alcohol in the Qur`an, however this does not necessarily seem to exclude taking money for driving people with alcohol or who consume alcohol. And, of course, it presents a dangerous slippery slope; if Muslim taxi drivers can turn away passengers with alcohol, can they also turn away people of other faiths? What about mothers who have had children out of wedlock? Can Jewish drivers turn away someone eating a roast beef sandwich and drinking milk in their taxi?
According to the US News and World Report's interview with the Minneapolis airport's director, this amounts to approximately three fare refusals a day. Additionally, the taxi drivers have been lobbying against the resulting practice of making them go to the back of taxi line after a fare refusal, a line that becomes very long during rush hours and numerous flight arrivals.
The airport proposed in September that taxi drivers who don't accept passengers with alcohol for religious reasons have a special colored light on the top of their vehicles to signal to passengers that they will not be driven if they are carrying alcohol. On Oct. 10, the airport officials reversed this decision, citing in a press release that "other options will be considered." Some conservative commentators, like Daniel Pipes of the New York Sun, were very strong opponents of allowing taxi drivers to turn passengers away. As of today, no new rules have been instituted; if the drivers turn people away, they must return to the back of taxi line.
It is unclear what tenet of Islamic law prohibits these drivers from taking passengers with alcohol; there are passages against consuming alcohol in the Qur`an, however this does not necessarily seem to exclude taking money for driving people with alcohol or who consume alcohol. And, of course, it presents a dangerous slippery slope; if Muslim taxi drivers can turn away passengers with alcohol, can they also turn away people of other faiths? What about mothers who have had children out of wedlock? Can Jewish drivers turn away someone eating a roast beef sandwich and drinking milk in their taxi?
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